Navigating the issue of copy approval
And a survey we'd love you to fill in
Last week FFJ co-founder Emma vented her frustration in our Facebook community about a series of interviewees who wanted to see their quotes before publication and then claimed they hadn’t said what they had said. It seemed to strike a chord with our group as even experienced journalists can sometimes struggle to navigate this issue which may not be as straightforward as it first seems.
As journalism students we are taught to use shorthand or record interviews and then those are the quotes you use. We are also told to not give copy approval - at least in the UK, although there are interesting cultural differences on this point in other countries.
What the responses to our thread showed was that there are nuances in the answer to the question, should I let someone see an article before publication? Once again, as with so many queries we get, the answer is “it depends”. So we thought it would be useful to provide some top tips on how you might go about this.
You can say no
It is fairly common, in our experience for interviewees to ask if they can see a copy of the article before it is published. This might be because they are nervous about how it will look in print or because once upon a time they went on some media training that told them to ask this. You are perfectly within your rights to say no to this request for many reasons including journalistic integrity, being trusted to do your job, timescales and the fact there are many editing processes that the article may go through after you have submitted it. Just explain your reasons and in our experience people will accept that.
There will always be that (hopefully rare) occasion when someone claims they haven’t said something or you have twisted your words. But if you have a clear record of the conversation, you should be confident in your work.
Different publications may have different rules
As a freelancer, it may be worth finding out what your editor thinks about giving copy or quote approval or if the publication has any guidelines or policy on this. What would their staff journalists usually do? Emma notes she has said a blanket no before as a matter of personal policy only for the publication to turn around and say they don’t mind if an interviewee wants to check quotes.
It can depend on the type of article
If you are writing a real-life feature based on someone’s personal tragedy, it may be far more valid to check copy with an interviewee - after all this is their story - than to double check quotes from a politician or to agree to full approval of an article by a celebrity wanting to control their publicity. The same might apply if you have an expert providing advice or comment and you want to check you have understood what they have said, especially for very technical topics. Breaking news and more personal features can be two very different beasts and your answer to “can I see the article?”, is likely to vary accordingly.
There may be a compromise
It is rare that at FFJ headquarters we would send a full article for someone to check but you may want to provide reassurance for them or yourselves around the parts they are commenting on. Perhaps they are a contact you want to cultivate and you are keen to build some trust. In this case you can offer to send them their quotes rather than the full piece or even do a read back of their comments over the phone, which some of our community noted is often a better solution than sending them the full copy in an email. You also may feel more willing to share copy before publication when it is written in the person’s own words, such as a case study accompanying a feature. It is OK to make a decision on a case-by-case basis.
But be clear where the boundaries are
Of course an interviewee may never ask to see an article but it is useful to think through these scenarios and be clear on how you would respond. Decide when it would be acceptable for you to share copy and when it would be a complete non-starter. Then be really clear in your response. You also may have to explain the editorial process to them to help them understand how it works. Also bear in mind that you may end up in a situation where you send someone quotes and they then make loads of changes which render them unreadable or sounding like they came from a robot. Asking them from the start to stick to any minor factual corrections may stop this happening.
Freelance journalism survey
Our good friends at the European Journalism Centre are doing a survey to gain a clearer picture about the freelance journalist community. They will publish a report of the findings in June. We would be very grateful if as many of you as possible could fill out the questionnaire as it will really help those of us advocating for freelance journalists. There are also prizes to be won!
The goal of the Freelance Journalism in Europe survey is to answer questions about the needs and priorities of freelance journalists in order to highlight their work and challenges, design new initiatives to support and protect freelance journalism and facilitate collaborative solutions that can positively impact the freelance journalism ecosystem.
Freelance journalists based in Europe can participate.
It is available in English, French and Spanish.
The survey is open until 23 March 2022, 23:59 CET.
Participants can win useful rewards, including a flight and accommodation to attend the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.
What’s coming up
Our popular Journalism Work Experience Initiative is opening again at the end of March. All you have to do is sign up to our webinar that provides advice on how it works and tips on how to get the most out of it and then you get one year of access to a database of 50 freelance journalists and news organisations willing to offer remote work experience opportunities. If you can’t attend the live event - don’t worry - purchase a ticket and we will send you a recording.
There is a wide variety of specialisms and interests on our database across print and broadcast. Once we start promoting the initiative places tend to go very quickly. The webinar fee covers the admin involved in the scheme but there are bursary places available so please do contact us at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com if you need more information.
Triumph of the week
Getting a commission within an hour of being back at the desk after a week off.
That feeling when
You think it’s all under control and you’re having a relaxing day and then all of a sudden the day is over and many things are not crossed off the list.
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!
